Economic Policy News

COMBINED CORPORATE TAX RATES (2014) Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).   The U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world—by a long shot. At 39.1 percent (35 percent federal rate plus the average of state rates), it remains substantially higher than the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development average…

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman once commented derisively on Ireland’s ongoing economic recovery: “It seems obvious to me that Ireland keeps being proclaimed a success because it’s supposed to be a success: they did the austerity thing forcefully, with a minimum of complaints, so there must be a pot of gold at the end…

There’s wide support for many economic policy reforms, despite the perception (and often the reality) that there’s partisan gridlock. Of course, getting anything passed through Congress is difficult, but some reforms have a much better chance of getting passed than other reforms. They are the “low-hanging fruit.” Policy experts from Heritage’s Roe Institute have put…

Let’s say you were a financial adviser, and a family came to you with the following situation. They make the median family income in the United States—$52,000. But last year they spent $61,000. That’s right, $9,000 more than they’re making, and it all went on the family credit card. That’s bad enough, but then you find out they…

The Highway Trust Fund—which provides funding for building and maintaining the nation’s roads and bridges as well as transit, such as buses, streetcars, light rail and metros—will exhaust its operating funds by the end of May. Now more than ever, it is important for the nation to rethink the way it invests in transportation. As…

Washington is exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia. At the same time that lawmakers are debating their budget blueprints to eliminate deficits before the end of the decade, the Boehner-Pelosi deal to address the looming Medicare physician payment cuts proposes to add $141 billion to the deficit over the same period. The deal in question would replace…

It’s a big week for the new GOP-controlled Congress. Unlike the past when Congress was divided, this year there is no one to blame if GOP lawmakers fail to pass a budget. This puts tremendous pressure to unite diverse lawmakers in the House and Senate behind one spending plan by the mid-April deadline. But first…

On Friday night, House leaders released details of a proposal that would increase spending on doctors paid through Medicare (called the doc fix). Based on what is currently known without at official score by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the new spending would only be partially offset in both the 10-year “budget window” and over…

Just how large has government grown over the past couple decades? To answer that, take a look at the increase in the amount the government spends per household in Heritage’s 2015 Federal Budget in Pictures. In 1962, the U.S. government spent about $12,000 of today’s dollars per American household; it now spends almost $29,000—more than…

Today the House Budget Committee released its fiscal year 2016 budget blueprint. Any good budget should balance within 10 years or less, without raising taxes above the average historical level (roughly 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)). In addition, Heritage policy experts previously established seven priorities for the congressional budget resolution. Let’s see how…

For Washington, it’s budget season. President Obama released his budget early last month, and this week it’s Congress’ turn to reveal its own budget resolutions. Government spending and debt has grown out of control: The current national debt exceeds $18.1 trillion and is only growing higher. It is Congress’ responsibility to address the national spending…

The U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world, is the only major country to tax its businesses on income earned outside the country and delays the ability of businesses to deduct capital expenses for as long as 39 years. The monstrous complexity of the U.S. tax system has a disproportionately adverse…

It’s good to be No. 1. But as any former champ will tell you, you have to avoid becoming complacent if you want to stay ahead of the pack. First-place finishes aren’t guaranteed, just ask Hong Kong. Every year since 1995, the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal have measured the state of economic…

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf recently blamed “lack of opportunity for jobs” as a root cause of terrorism in the Middle East. Her assertion, made in an interview Monday, that “we cannot kill our way out of this war” is unlikely to replace “I have not yet begun to fight” on lists of famous military…

In his surprise best seller Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty argues that the wealth of rich owners of capital grows faster than the wages of workers in capitalist economies. Hence, inequality always increases unless destructive world wars or heavy-handed government regulation of the economy intervene. To remedy modern inequality, he proposes punitive taxes…